


Completionist

by SignusOrion



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Friendship, Gaming, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-19 00:41:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8182328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SignusOrion/pseuds/SignusOrion
Summary: An AU in which Corvo and the Outsider are best buds and play video games together.  All is good in the world.





	

Summer, hot and muggy, with moisture heavy in the air, presses on the tip of his spine, drags drops of sweat down his forehead. His fingers are starting to slip from the joystick; every now and then he drags his hand over the cotton material of his t-shirt. Two glasses of iced tea sit next to him on the floor, their outsides covered in beads of condensation. He glances to his full glass, the ice melted to slivers, gulps, and turns his eyes back to his game. The other glass, Theo's glass, is empty.

And next to him, Theo's sprawled upside down on the bed, head hanging from the edge of the mattress. The other boy's unwavering gaze is on the huge television screen across the room. His shallow breaths are drowned out by the tinny sounds of battle shouts coming from the speakers, but when he holds his breath during the particularly tense boss fight, Corvo hears the impossibly loud absence.

His character, wielding dual daggers and clad in...Christmas colors, whirls around in a flurry of red and green as Corvo fires off an ultimate ability. As he's calculated, the orc boss keels over and as his character leans over the monster's fallen body, he's free to drop the controller for the first time in hours. He's reached the cutscene at last.

Theo drags his limbs up from the bed and claps slowly. the sound coming from somewhere above him. "Wonderfully done, my dear Corvo."

Corvo reaches for the glass of tea, room temperature by now. Going down his parched throat, the tea is a relief, as is the condensation cool against his hand. He drains it all in one gulp and places it back on the ground. With his thirst quenched and the controller in his lap, he not sure what to do with his hands.

He's...not quite sure what he's doing here. He's been wondering that since June, since school ended and Theo began inviting him over.

Frowning, Corvo wipes his hands against his shirt once more and turns around.  Theo's eyes widen and his feet jerk away from the wall as Corvo holds up the controller.

He raises an eyebrow at the dark-eyed boy, who gives him a slightly nauseated look and a shake of the head.

"You've been playing for weeks now.  Are you tiring of this game?" Theo asks him, rolling onto his belly and reaching for the empty game case on the bed.

"No," Corvo answers, turning back to watch the rest of the cutscene.  His character has just finished searching the boss's body for valuables to sell, so the screen fades to black before cutting to the character drinking ale with all of her mercenary friends.  He's thrown hours into this game, but still has no idea where the story's going.  The animation of the cutscenes is a bit clunky as well, but Corvo likes hearing the easy banter of the character and her friends, the rhythms of their conversation timed just perfectly.

"Are you having fun?"

Corvo freezes, then shakes his head slowly, making Theo snort behind him.

"How interesting," Theo says, and it sounds like there's nothing else he'd rather be doing.  Corvo supposes he should be more unnerved at being observed like an animal, but Jessamine's visiting her relatives and his own house is empty.  There's nothing else he has to do.

The cutscene finally ends, with his character being given yet another quest; Corvo picks the controller back up.  He starts to maneuver the joystick, but his thoughts go back to the last day of classes.

The bookbag hot against his back, the walk home with the sun too bright in his eyes, the slight silhouette of a boy a block ahead of him.  The boy's sudden glance backwards, which roped him into an uneasy friendship.

Every time Corvo starts a new game, he sees them: the save files with hours sporadically recorded, none of them complete.  Theo gives him the same sickened look every time Corvo pushes the controller towards him.  Then, like an otherworldly spirit, he hovers over him, pointing out all the flaws in the game that Corvo already sees, with a tired disdain that Corvo does not share.

"A thrilling adventure for all, Orc Quest IV promises hours of endless entertainment."  And there it is.

Corvo vaguely remembers reading those words from the blurb of the game case.  He turns his head, meeting Theo's unblinking stare, and can't help but notice that a bit of the other boy's dark hair is sticking up in the back.   _It's a trick_ , he tells himself, turning back to the front.

A practiced clumsiness, to feign intimacy.

"I suppose that's the problem with this one, hm?" Theo says, and though his voice tilts up in a questioning tone, he barrels on, "Maybe it does not have an end to it."

Holding back a smile, Corvo remembers Theo saying something similar for the last game.  And after days of constant button-mashing and internal cursing, he finished that one.

"Are you enjoying this?"

Corvo has to think that one over, but in the end, he can't say.  A hand lands on his head, ruffling his hair like he's been an obedient dog.

"You tackle this like a chore, Corvo."

The hand on his head stills, but does not let go.  Corvo wills himself to think nothing of it.  Maybe someday, he'll be one of those save files, discarded and indistinguishable in a pile of refuse.

That day can't come soon enough.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This got away from me. I feel like I mischaracterize Corvo every time I write him.
> 
> So this happened because my friend spews utter nonsense. Also The Outsider's full name is Theodore Ulysses Thomas Sider, courtesy of this same friend.
> 
> (Theo U. T. Sider)


End file.
